DAMASCUS, Syria — At least 62 people died in clashes across Syria Friday as tens of thousands of protesters marked a “day of rage,” activists said.

Pro-democracy protests were held against President Bashar al Assad’s regime in most cities and major towns after Muslim weekly prayers, as has happened on previous Fridays since last month.

At least 33 civilians were killed in and around the protest epicenter of Daraa, southern Syria, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding it had a list of names of those confirmed killed.

A further 27 civilians were killed in and around the industrial city of Homs, north of Damascus, the Observatory said, and two more in the Mediterranean port city of Latakia.

Syrian authorities said nine members of the security forces were killed at the hands of “terrorist groups.”

Military officials said five soldiers were also killed and two captured by “armed terrorists” in Daraa. Dozens of assailants were killed and wounded, and 156 arrested, a military spokesman said.

Three soldiers were killed when “another terrorist group” tried to cut off the main highway linking the cities of Homs and Hama, north of Damascus, the spokesman said, quoted by the state news agency SANA. A policeman in Daraa was also among the dead.

As the violence raged, Washington blocked the assets of the president’s brother Maher al Assad, who commands Syria’s feared Fourth Armored Division, and those of several other top officials and its intelligence services.

In Brussels, the European Union agreed in principle to impose an arms embargo against Syria and prepare additional measures to punish the regime, diplomats said. EU ambassadors meeting in Brussels decided to launch preparations for an embargo on the sale of weapons and equipment that might be used for internal repression, a European diplomat said.

Other measures could include an assets freeze and travel bans against officials blamed for the violent repression of anti-government protests.

In Geneva, the UN Human Rights Council endorsed a US call for an investigative mission on the bloodshed as it voted in favor of a resolution condemning the crackdown on protests. The resolution “unequivocally condemns the use of lethal violence against peaceful protesters by the Syrian authorities … and urges the Syrian government to immediately put an end to all human rights violations.”

Ahead of Friday’s bloodshed, dissidents said security forces using live rounds and tear gas had already killed more than 450 people since the pro-democracy protests erupted in mid-March.

The call for mass demonstrations was issued on a Facebook page, The Syrian Revolution 2011, a motor for the protests which have been inspired by uprisings across the Arab world seeking greater freedoms.

Assad’s embattled regime reiterated its running ban on demonstrations, despite having lifted a decades-old law barring them earlier this month, as the Muslim Brotherhood accused it of “genocide.”

Information Minister Adnan Mahmud said the crackdown would continue, saying the “authorities are determined to restore security, stability and peace to the citizens.”

The interior ministry appealed to Syrians not to join the protests and warned that unauthorized rallies would not be tolerated.